John & Fannie Broida at the Beach, probably after 1904. (Click to enlarge.)
Our last post with silly swimsuits was such a hit ( See Silly Sunday- Joseph Cooper Family in Swimsuits c1912) that we thought we would share yet another high-fashion image to whet your appetite for the coming swimsuit season. At least with these swimsuits, one didn’t have to diet quite as much before the season started!
This image is of John Zelig Broida (1857-1938) and his second wife, Fannie. Her maiden name is unknown, but they married in 1904, when Fannie was 29 and John 47 years old. They lived in Pittsburgh, PA, and St. Louis, Missouri until their emigration to Palestine in September, 1920. John/Zelig died in Palestine, but we still don’t know much about Fannie and what happened to her.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Broida family photos
2) Family oral history
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Copyright 2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
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Real photo postcard (RPPC) of Sarah & Chouteau Ave. in St. Louis, Missouri. The “X” marks where the pharmacy was.Reverse of Lee drugstore location postcard. Ink inscription: “This is where I hangout about 14 hours a day.” Written by Lloyd Eugene Lee, RPh. (Printed info in pencil is from a family get together when we looked at all the old photos while most of the folks who knew what was in them were still with us.)
A portrait of Samuel J. Lee taken in St. Louis, Missouri. He appears to be about 3 or 4, so this would have been taken around 1882-3.
[Click on any image to enlarge.]
Samuel J. Lee was born to Samuel Lenton Lee (1849-1932) and his wife Louisa M. Brandenburger (1859-1934) in Bunker Hill, Macoupin, Illinois on 29 Jun 1879. He married Dorothy Adele Aiken (1884-1953) on 1 Dec 1906 in Bunker Hill. They moved to St. Louis, Missouri by 7 Sep 1907, when their son Lloyd Eugene Lee was born.
Samuel J. Lee (left) in his Chouteau Ave store in St. Louis, Missouri, circa 1920?
Sam Lee had a drugstore at 4067 Chouteau Ave. in St. Louis. When his son also became a pharmacist, the store was called “S. J. Lee & Son.”
Samuel J. Lee family home at 6204 Alamo Ave., St. Louis, Missouri. 1930s or 1940s?
The Lees purchased their home at 6204 Alamo in St. Louis sometime between the 1920 and 1930 censuses.
Christmas, possibly 1960s, at the Samuel J. Lee home on Alamo in St. Louis, Missouri.
Samuel J. Lee in his drugstore in St. Louis, Missouri, possibly 1950s or 1960s?
Sam died 24 Sep 1964 in St. Louis and was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Jennings, St. Louis Co., Missouri.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Birth information for Samuel J. Lee: Source Citation: Registration State: Missouri; Registration County: St Louis (Independent City); Roll: 1683856; Draft Board: 24. Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Accessed 12/11/13.
2) Samuel J. Lee and Dorothy Adele Aiken marriage certificate in family artifacts.
3) Birth record of Lloyd Eugene Lee: Source Information: Ancestry.com. Missouri Birth Records, 1851-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Missouri Birth Records [Microfilm]. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives. Accessed 12/11/13.
4) 1920 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: St Louis Ward 24, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: T625_960; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 468; Image: 245. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Accessed 12/11/13.
5) 1930 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: St Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 1245; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0239; Image: 830.0; FHL microfilm: 2340980. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls. Accessed 12/11/13.
6) Find A Grave Memorial # 56893479, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56893479. Accessed 12/11/13.
7) Note: edited 7/2/14 and changed “George Lenton Lee” to “Samuel Lenton Lee.” George Lee was the father of Samuel Lenton Lee; Samuel’s mother was Eliza Lenton.
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Copyright 2013 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
John A. Brandenberger was the only son of five children born to John Andrew Brandenberger (1826-1906) and Christina M. Funke (1837-1901), both German immigrants that settled in the Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Illinois area. The Brandenbergers ran a boarding house that listed German coal diggers as residents in the 1880 US Federal Census.
Lt. John Brandenburger
John married Helena Charbulak 10 Mar 1896, but we have been unable to find a marriage record in Illinois or Missouri for them. Their daughter Lillian, called “Lily,” was born 15 Feb 1897 in Missouri. (Lily later married Chester D. Paul.)
Lil Brandenberger- Graduation? circa 1915?Lil Brandenberger- possibly circa 1904 if about age 7.
The Brandenbergers lived in St. Louis, Missouri for the remainder of their lives. John was a police officer, and he worked in a tough town during Prohibition and the Depression. Family lore is that he started the first Women’s Police Force in St. Louis. He can be found with his wife in the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 US Federal Censuses in St. Louis, Missouri. John died 24 Mar 1932 in St. Louis at age 58 and is buried in Bunker Hill, Macoupin, Illinois.
Lt. John Brandenburger- Funeral Card
Helena lived in the home they owned with their daughter Lily and Lily’s husband living with her. Helena died 22 May 1944 in University City, St. Louis County, Missouri. She is buried in Lebanon, St. Clair Co., Illinois.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) 1880 US Federal census: Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Bunker Hill, Macoupin, Illinois; Roll: 232; Family History Film: 1254232; Page: 64C; Enumeration District: 108; Image: 0129.
2) 1900 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: St Louis Ward 9, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 892; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0133; FHL microfilm: 1240892. Accessed on Ancestry.com on 12/4/13.
3) 1910 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: St Louis Ward 10, Saint Louis City, Missouri; Roll: T624_816; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 0163; FHL microfilm: 1374829.
4) 1920 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: St Louis Ward 13, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: T625_951; Page: 21A; Enumeration District: 263; Image: 95.
5) 1930 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: St Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 1236; Page: 35A; Enumeration District: 0026; Image: 942.0; FHL microfilm: 2340971.
6) 1940 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: St Louis, St Louis City, Missouri; Roll: T627_2196; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 96-361B.
7) Family oral history.
8) Find A Grave:
John A. Brandenberger: Find A Grave Memorial# 80582045, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=80582045
Helena Charbulack Brandenberger: Find A Grave Memorial# 11676686, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11676686
Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.
Copyright 2013 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Every once in a while, there is an object that is just SO LOVELY that it becomes a part of your soul, and the above heirloom gravy boat is one of those objects for me.
The gravy boat sat in the china cabinet in our dining room as I grew up. We did not use the dining room very often, and I don’t ever remember using the gravy boat. Maybe it was too precious, or maybe all the cracks in the glaze made it unsafe to use. We didn’t have gravy often- my mother was a minimalist cook, plus she would have had her own gravy boat to match her china. So this lovely object sat in the china cabinet, which really was a museum of our family history and reminder of times gone by. I would lovingly dust it a few times per year, thinking of my grandparents, and how life must have been for my mother growing up, the youngest in a family of eight. It was her job to dust just as it was mine, and I felt her fear of dropping such a beautiful object or even chipping such a special piece that showcased the assets of a family.
So what is a ‘gravy boat’? A gravy boat, sauce boat, or sauciere is an oval table service piece that looks like a low, elongated pitcher. Most have handles for pouring out the sauce; others, such as this, are lower and have one or two long lips at the end, and may have a handle or not. Sauce could be poured but usually a gravy ladle would be used if there was no handle on the gravy boat. Gravy boats had a matching oval plate or saucer that was attached, or it might be separate, as in this piece. The saucer would have a depression into which the foot of the gravy boat sat so it didn’t slide if slippery gravy was dripped onto the plate, or while it was passed hand-to-hand around the big table. The saucer was also important to prevent gravy stains on the nice tablecloth- and that would have been cloth of the old fashioned kind- a linen or cotton that would also need starch and ironing after washing. (They had no quick-wipe plastic or easy care permanent-press polyester tablecloths like we have today.) A matching porcelain gravy ladle might have also been used, or the family might use their sterling silver or silverplate gravy ladle. The oval shape and spout-like ends of the gravy boat are designed to pour but also to hold the ladle without it slipping down into the gravy, though proper manners dictated that the gravy ladle at least start the meal sitting on the saucer. (See source #4 for an example of a similar set with plate.) I do not remember a plate for our treasured heirloom, so it was probably broken long before my time.
The decoration on this gravy boat is so very delicate and pretty. Sweet pansies or violas were hand painted in two lucious purples, and the raised gold is set off by beautiful white porcelain. It is authentic Noritake Nippon Hand Painted china as it has the correct mark, plus I know the chain of custody. The gravy boat would have been made between 1890 and 1918, probably, as the McKinley Tariff Act required “Japan” be used on imported pieces after 1921, although Japan had already started using the name of their country on export china shortly after WWI.
This lovely object belonged to Anna Mae Beerbower (1881-1954) and her husband, William Gerard Helbling (1882-1971)- or Gerard William Helbling- he switched the order of his names throughout the years as good Germans often did. They were married 24 November 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, the year of the World’s Fair. Maybe this was a wedding gift, or a special Christmas, anniversary, or birthday gift. The family was of modest means, but such lovely objects graced their table, even if there was not enough income to buy a lot of food, especially in the tough economies of the 1920s through the 1940s.
Interestingly, a daughter of the family was named Viola Gertrude Helbling (1913-1971). I wonder if my grandmother was partial to violas, the flowers? They have always been a favorite of mine, and my mother loved them too.
Somehow, KFC gravy in a styrofoam cup with plastic lid seems even more unappetizing after thinking about this lovely heirloom gravy boat.
